Aesthetics

In Martin Domecq’s contribution to the Climate Emergency series, he puts four Brazillian performance art pieces in conversation to draw upon the poetic, political, and civic lessons they offer. These performances—which range from installations to solo and group performances—model possible paradigms that work against ecological crisis.

While performing across the West and in Africa, Misheck Mzumara noticed stark differences in typical audience behavior. He discusses those differences, their cultural contexts, and their impact on theatremakers’ experiences in cross-cultural theatre productions.

From the “Gentleman Freak” to the “Rage-Filled Recluse,” simplistic tropes limit popular representation of disabled individuals. Ben Ranaan explains these tropes and advocates for more complex portrayals of disability in theatre and other media.

In this entry of Devising Our Future, Aly Perry asks, “How might we position and design theatre as an essential space for healing, pleasure, and connection through an intertwining and interdependent realm of the senses?

Emily LeQuesne discusses space as it relates to puppetry and shares a practical, five-step dramaturgy system for puppet theatre, which she developed, called the Mosaic Scale.

Priscilla Solis Ybarra reflects on her experience watching Virginia Grise’s a farm for meme at home, during the pandemic, with her eighty-two-year-old mother whose life shares parallels with the story in the play.

Marina Tsaplina examines the complexity of the word “disability,” how puppetry can push forward disability justice, and disability aesthetics, offering what she deems a “grammar of animacy” for artists working with disability.

Neil Blackadder writes about three productions of Juliet at Chicago’s Theatre Y, including the most recent one that configured and filled the small black-box space in an unusual way.

Jonathan Mandell examines the new theatrical landscape brought on by COVID-19 and discusses the emerging aesthetic—one that is low-tech, low-key, one-on-one, close-up.

Irina Kruzhilina discusses the importance of visuals as a means of expression in politically and socially engaged theatre.

Devika Ranjan talks about the ways in which migration can influence performance structures, what she has identified as “migratory dramaturgy.”

Sean Anthony Chia examines the impact of a powerful story—one without spectacle—through the lens of Isaac Gomez’s the way she spoke.

James Montaño discusses The Donkey Show, cross-gendered performances vs. drag, camp as an aesthetic concept, and more.

Shari Caplan discusses Opera del West’s recent production of Cendrillon at the Boston Center for the Arts.

Ezra Brain discusses the experience of creating a piece of theatre in the dark, the theory of “rasa,” the act of performance, and more.

verity healey does a deep-dive into the Our Stage – 4th European Bürgerbühne Festival, which took place in Dresden, Germany, in May 2019.

Shari Caplan discusses the Huntington Theatre’s production of Yerma.

Rebecca Benzie Fraser uses Her Naked Skin as an example in the exploration of the different decisions made when it comes to staging violence by women and staging violence against women.

Amanda L. Andrei reflects on Warsaw’s Generation After 3 festival, which had the theme of “risky projects,” and discusses four pieces she saw on risk as it relates to the body and the world.

Emily Garside discusses Y Brain/Kargalar, in which the playwright, Turkish refugee Meltem Arikan, who settled in Wales, explores her conflicting identities.